Journeys of a quilter in art, dyeing, and handquilting.

Knitting the February Lady Sweater

A few months ago, my good friend Lesley, an avid knitter, started a Thursday night knitting group amongst our bevy of ladies. Always being one to love a crafty get together with friends, and having never tried knitting before, I was up for the adventure.

Many of us were interested in knitting a sweater, and Lesley suggested the February Lady Sweater as a good beginning sweater to knit. At the first Thursday Night Knitting get together, I wound my skeins into balls.

Then, we learned to cast on.

And then we learned to knit. And then pearl.

The February Lady Sweater is knit from the top down, so here’s the beginning stitches, which would be the neck on the finished product. Sweaters have such humbling beginnings, don’t they?

The garter stitch went quickly, and soon it was time for the button holes. Yikes! Three of them. Soon, the top shoulder piece was done.

Then began the body of the sweater, learning yarn overs, knit two togethers, and the like to make the lacy pattern. I enjoyed the challenge of following a pattern and the look of the lace as it emerged.

Soon, the lace body was getting long enough I needed to try it on for size. Looking good!

The knitting nights continued, and soon I was on to the sleeves. There were a plethora of knitting projects being made, from little knit animals to scarves, hats, and quite a few February Lady Sweaters. Through it all, Lesley tirelessly troubleshot our mistakes, fixed dropped stitches, helped interpret patterns, and encouraged us to continue on despite the odds.

And just in time for Christmas gifts, the sweater was finished. Last step, blocking. I’d never heard of this step before. We got the sweater wet, lay it out on soft tiles, then pinned and stretched it into shape, leaving it for a few days to dry.

For the last piece, I sewed on big wooden buttons, wrapped it up, and presented it to my sister for Christmas.

What’s next? I’ve been knitting a scarf over the holidays with the remaining rabbit brush yarn. Another challenging and complicated lacy pattern. More on that when it is complete!

I used rabbit brush flowers to dye the yarn, picked in September at the height of their blooming. We were competing with the bees for the flowers which made the harvesting kind of exciting! I am looking forward to trying out other local dye plants too . . .

Maybe next time we make it a Calico Quilt Guild workshop? And I can walk you through it and you can try it out!